Zimbabwe needs USD30m to meet 2015 DTT deadline

Zimbabwe has missed the 31 December 2013 deadline, set by members of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), for the migration from analogue to Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) signal, and is now reportedly gearing to switch off its analogue signal by June 2015, local news agency TechZim reports. According to the article, of the eleven SADC member states, only four countries have switched off analogue TV transmissions, these being Namibia, Mauritius, South Africa and Tanzania.

Supa Mandiwanzira, deputy minister of Media, Information and Broadcasting Services, said in an interview in November 2013 that national broadcasting carrier Transmedia needs USD28 million to fund the project, although the figure has since been revised to USD30 million for the initial phase of the DTT rollout. Transmedia also said that they were expecting to start pilot testing of DTT in Zimbabwe’s major cities in 2013 but the plan did not kick off, allegedly due to funding issues.